SFX Issue 59

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NEWS:

Realm Of No Return

Creator Chris Carter speaks out

An obviously angry Chris Carter responded to the cancellation in an interview with Hollywood trade journal Variety , claiming Fox “botched” the launch of the hotly-tipped series: “I think in the end it looks rather misguided to have premiered the show without any promotional base, certainly when the reviews of it were good. I have a feeling we’re a victim of a much bigger problem at Fox.”

He alleges the Fox Network admitted to him they had under-promoted the new series with Carter claiming, “The viewer-awareness levels were pathetically low.” Carter also says that he believes the abrupt cancellation was due to Fox Entertainment’s president Doug Herzog’s apparent coolness toward the show and Carter’s other work: “When I first met Doug I realised he wasn’t a fan of The X-Files , which made me paranoid that he didn’t know what we did over here.”

The trade press suggests that given the low ratings of Harsh Realm and the fact that only eight episodes had been filmed at the time of the announcement the odds are against the series being taken up by another network. It remains to be seen what effect, if any, this action will have on Chris Carter’s dealings with the Fox Network and The X-Files .